‘Life,’ ‘To A Land Unknown’ Win Main Prizes at Sophomore Edition of Mediterrane Film Festival

Netflix and Amazon “ordered the majority of their titles from outside the U.S.” last quarter and are shooting ahead of rivals in the global commissioning race, according to research from Ampere Analysis.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Mia Hansen-Løve, one of France’s leading filmmakers whose movies have played at Cannes, Berlin and Toronto, will next direct “If Love Should Die,” an ambitious feature film about the life of visionary English writer and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft. Mubi, the auteur-driven global distribution and streaming powerhouse, is producing “If Love Should Die” with Georgina Paget and Thembisa Cochrane at U.K.

Refresh for latest…: Paramount’s A Quiet Place: Day One not only set a domestic opening record for the franchise, it also did it at the international box office. Of the $98.5M global start, $45.5M is from 59 overseas markets, well exceeding expectations.

Naman Ramachandran “Second Chance,” the directorial debut of Indian filmmaker Subhadra Mahajan, has been picked up for international sales by Thailand-based Diversion ahead of its world premiere at the 2024 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The film is set to debut on July 2 in the festival’s Proxima Competition section. The film tells the story of Nia, a young woman from the city who returns to her family home in the western Himalayas after a decade-long absence.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Renowned British filmmaker Mike Leigh believes that if the subjects of his 2018 historical drama “Peterloo” were alive to see the upcoming U.K. general elections they would be “not only horrified but mystified” about “people procrastinating about whether to vote and seeing justification in not voting, which is what’s happening right now.” While in conversation about his career with Chief Executive of Film London Adrian Wooton at the Mediterrane Film Festival, the director emphasized that his retelling of the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 is a film “about democracy” and felt it was vital to highlight the importance of voting ahead of the elections.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Veteran festival director Marco Mueller was only hired to take over as the artistic director of the Taormina Film Festival in April this year. “I’m stressed out,” he told Variety, two weeks ahead of the festival opening, but he is philosophical.

Sunny Side of the Doc, the world’s biggest documentary-focused marketplace in the world, wrapped its 35th edition Thursday, after gathering 2,100 participants over four days in La Rochelle, France.

Naman Ramachandran The 32nd Raindance Film Festival (June 19-28) has revealed its jury award winners, reflecting a renewed focus on emerging filmmakers. Korean thriller “Sleep,” directed by Jason Yu and starring Lee Sun-kyun and Jung Yu-mi, took home the Discovery Award for best debut feature. The film marks Lee’s final role before his passing.

Ben Croll Roaring towards its 23rd edition, the Neuchatel Intl. Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) built its reputation as a haven for outré fare, pulling in a reliable (and renewable) youth crowd eager for wild thrills and hard-to-source Asian titles, while becoming a fixture on the horror festival circuit as a lakeside home-away-from-home for a stable of filmmakers who return year and again.

A fire has engulfed the derelict Dumbuck House Hotel in Dumbarton.

Ally McCoist thinks Cristiano Ronaldo should be dropped by Portugal manager Roberto Martinez.

Canada’s Sphere Media has acquired Abacus Media Rights, the UK-based distributor that sells Leaving Neverland and Scrublands.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Locarno Film Festival will honor multiple Oscar winner Ben Burtt — the sound designer, editor and voice actor behind the ‘Star Wars‘ and ‘Indiana Jones’ franchises — with its lifetime achievement award dedicated to creative pioneers. The prominent Swiss fest celebrating international indie cinema will be feting Burtt, best known for voicing Wall-E and creating Darth Vader’s mechanical breathing, with its Vision Award Ticinomoda. 1977’s “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” was one of the first films he worked on.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is now available to stream internationally.The first part of the stage production ran in Japan from January to February 2020, with the second part returning in August 2021, and is now available to watch in international territories around the world.As of June 21, viewers in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa can watch on Crunchyroll.An official synopsis for the adaptation reads: “One day in Japan during the Taisho era, Tanjiro, a kind young man who sells coal, finds his family slaughtered by a demon. Worse yet, the only survivor, his younger sister Nezuko, is turned into a demon.“Despite his hopeless situation, Tanjiro makes up his mind to become a Demon Slayer in order to turn his sister back into a human and slay the demon who killed his family.

A Taylor Swift fan spent her entire time at the Eras tour being compared to the singer due to her very similar outfit, makeup and hair.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor In the last decade, the Maltese film industry has undergone radical development, with a strong focus on seeing the island country evolve from a service provider to Hollywood productions to telling their own stories on screen. Speaking with Variety ahead of the second edition of the Mediterrane Film Festival, Maltese filmmakers have highlighted the importance of fostering local talent, rerouting foreign investment into native productions and strengthening bonds with neighboring countries in the Middle East and North Africa. “Things have changed drastically in recent years,” said veteran filmmaker Mario Philip Azzopardi, whose 1971 “Il-Gaġġa” is widely presumed to be the first full-length feature filmed entirely in Maltese.

EXCLUSIVE: Synchronicity Films is adapting Hanif Kureishi’s The Body as a series with the novelist and screenwriter on board as an exec producer and Emmy-nominated director Paul McGuigan attached. There are scripts from crime writer Robert Murphy and the producers will relocate the action from the UK to the U.S. for the series.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor The Mediterrane Film Festival kickstarted its second edition with the international premiere of Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte’s “The Count of Monte Cristo.” The film, shown at the heart of Malta’s capital of Valletta on Saturday night, was followed by a reception at the historic Mdina Ditch Gardens, in which Malta Film Commissioner Johann Grech highlighted the importance of the festival as an event to “unite the nations of the Mediterranean through film.” The sentiment echoes this year’s festival theme of Unity Through Film, with Grech adding that he hopes the festival will bring nations together to “share stories that celebrate not only our diversity but also our shared outlook.” The film commissioner emphasised the success of the festival’s first edition, claiming the return to the local economy “far exceeded our investment, showing once again what a force for good film is in our country.” Several members of the local film industry were present at the gathering as well as international attendees in this year’s jury president Jon S. Baird (“Tetris,” “Stan and Ollie”) and “Triangle of Sadness” actor Zlatko Burić, who was part of last year’s jury.

Ben Croll Building on strong notices out of Sundance and Berlin, Saoirse Ronan has now won the Biarritz Nouvelles Vagues Festival‘s top acting honor for her role in “The Outrun.” Directed by Nora Fingscheidt and adapted from an acclaimed memoir by Amy Liptrot, “The Outrun” follows a young woman emerging from the throes of addiction, intercutting timelines and locales to track a downward spiral in London and the unsteady steps towards recovery along the rugged Scottish coast. Ronan’s acute and flinty lead performance has earned the four-time Oscar nominee some of the highest praise of her career, possibly heralding another awards run should “The Outrun” land a U.S.

Jordan Pickford's England shirt could have boasted a different surname if his dad hadn't opted for a name change by deed poll during his school days. Lee Pickford, Jordan's father, was unfortunately nicknamed by his peers while growing up in the north east. Everton's number one and England's go-to goalkeeper for Euro 2024 is a seasoned player with over 60 international caps to his name.